The Tangled Webs We Weave
by aur0ra-dawn
Summary: Lily Evans left Hogwarts. Left her friends and the love of her life all for her children-they don't know that. When she comes back three years later as a famous Broadway star, will she get a warm welcome or be left out in the cold? MWPP AU JP/LE


**AN/ Hi people! This is my first story here on my new account :D I hope you enjoy, the storyline has most likely been done before, but I've never seen it! The Marauders are my favourite thing to write about. That and Hermione. This story may get rather odd in places but I'm still getting my work the way I want it. Please Enjoy and reviews are nice! Please tell me how I can improve!**

**Disclaimer;; I do not own the marauders otherwise I would steal them-minus Peter of course.**

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Lily Evans stared at the little piece of plastic in front of her, willing it to turn into a blue line. The box said five minutes and it had been about four. She silently prayed for this to be just a false alarm and for her to be able to go on with her life and laugh with her friends, shake her head at the marauders pranks and most of all, have kids with James when they were married and ready. But no. A night that got out of hand ruined all that. Lily sighed and threw the test in the bin.

'_One last day.' _She thought. One last day with all her friends to just be a teenager. Lily sighed quietly once more and opened the bathroom door. Taking a few steps across her room, she gathered her thoughts along the way. As she opened the door, James was suddenly in front of her, fist poised, as if about to knock.

"James!" She gasped, hand on her heart, "You scared me, you idiot!", she slapped his chest and he laughed and kissed the top of her head,

"Come on down, we've barely seen you for days!" He took her hand and pulled her downstairs to where their friends were all gathered.

"Wehehey! She finally shows her face!" Marlene giggled from where she was sat in Remus' lap.

"Yeah, yeah." Lily pushed all thoughts of earlier into the back of her mind and sat down to enjoy her day. James pulled her into his lap and played with her hair while Avis leaned into Sirius and Alice fell asleep against Frank. Mary was curled up on the sofa behind them laughing at the antics of the boys. Peter of course was hanging on to every word the other boys said, worshipping them. When everything quietened down, Lily looked down at her hands which were folded in her lap, before speaking.

"I love you guys, you know that?"

Avis smiled, "Pshhh Yeah!" Sirius however wrinkled his nose.

"I love you guys too, but why the sudden affection, Evans?"

Lily shrugged, "I just wanted to let you all know!" Sirius gave her a funny look and Lily thought for a second that maybe he knew. But no sooner than it appeared, it was replaced by a wide grin.

"Spending so much time with James that his madness is rubbing off on you then, eh Evans?" He laughed and everyone joined in. Lily let out a deep breath that she hadn't realised she was holding.

"Must be!" She giggled with a nervous smile. No one seemed to notice her jumpiness but that night when she was about to go into James' room, Avis stopped her.

"What are you planning?" She asked, right out. Lily kept a poker face whilst she looked at the redhead.

"I have no idea what you mean, Avis." She said, stiffly.

"Lily, you're my best friend, I think I'd know when something was wrong," Avis' expression softened and her eyes became sad when she took Lily's hand, "You can tell us you know!"

"Avis!" Lily laughed, "There's nothing wrong! I'll see you tomorrow morning as normal and we'll do everything we normally do on a Monday! I think you're getting paranoid." She felt bad for lying but Avis wouldn't understand...she'd say that James wouldn't care, which admittedly he probably wouldn't, but Lily was not going to take the risk of him getting hurt over her stupid mistake. She leant forward and hugged her best friend for what was possibly the last time.

"Promise?" Avis mumbled into Lily's shoulder. Lily nodded mutely, not trusting her voice. She regained her confidence after a few seconds,

"I promise."

Avis pulled away and smiled, "I'm being paranoid aren't I?"

"Yes." Lily smiled at her before saying goodnight. After Avis left, Lily gave the password (Lily Doe) and walked in.

"Lil?" He called out, from behind the bathroom door.

"Yeah, it's me!" She shouted back. She sat on his bed and noticed the Marauders Map sat on this side. She slipped it inside the pocket of her jeans and was sat back in position moments before James walked out of the bathroom, surrounded by a cloud of steam. He had a white towel wrapped around his waist and his glasses were off, he walked over to Lily, his eyes darkening. He sat on the bed and pulled her up to him as he lay down. He kissed her gently, waiting for her to respond. Lily wound her hand into his dark hair and kissed him back with as much passion as she could muster. She wanted to leave him with something to remember her by.

She waited until he was asleep before wriggling out of his arms and doing the clichéd gesture of replacing herself with a pillow. After pulling on her jeans and tank top, she crept from his room and into her own. She ran around the room, throwing everything into her trunk, which she then shrank and put in her bag. Without a second thought she went into her bathroom and took the pregnancy test out of the bin. That went in the bag as well. Almost everything was ready for her to leave. Her bag was packed; her jacket was on her chair ready to be put on...there was just one last thing left to do. Lily sat down at her desk and picked up her quill. Quickly as she could without rushing it, she wrote two letters; one for her friends and one for James. She placed them both on her bed and swung her jacket around her shoulders, slipping her arms into the sleeves. The letters were both knocked to the floor but Lily didn't notice. Her eyes glistened with unshed tears as she scanned her room for the last time. She swept silently from the dorm and down the stairs. She whispered a quick disillusionment charm and stepped out of the portrait hole. The Fat Lady was jolted out of sleep by the swinging motion of door and she called out into the seemingly empty corridor.

"Who's there?" Lily ignored it, treading softly down the stairs and through the halls of Hogwarts for what would be the last time for what would be at least a few years. As she got to a point where there were no more portraits, she silently removed the charm and walked down the hallway. As she came to the end, a voice stopped her.

"Lily?" Remus Lupin called after her from the other end of the corridor. He hurried up the passage and stopped in front of her.

"Surely our own Head Girl isn't sneaking out in the middle of the night?" He laughed. Lily smiled dryly.

"I'm really sorry for this Remus." She whispered and a look of confusion crossed his face.

"Huh?"

"Stupefy." She muttered pointing her wand at his chest. He fell to the floor; his eyes wide and manic. He tried to move but his muscles were immobilised. Lily knelt down next to him and slipped The Marauders Map into his pocket. "Obliviate." His eyes went unfocused and dreamy and she straightened up and ran away. She felt bad for leaving one of her best friends stupefied on the floor but left without looking back. Just before disappearing into the passage behind the statue of the One-Eyed-Witch she swore she felt someone watching her but she ignored it and slipped through the trapdoor.

The next morning the sixth year Gryffindor students-minus Lily-met down at the Great Hall for breakfast. They sat down in their normal seats and began to put the usual food on their plates.

"James, is Lily getting dressed?" Alice asked, looking up from her toast. James creased his forehead,

"I thought she was in your dorm." He said in a confused manner.

"We haven't seen her since last night!" Marlene replied, "She went to bed at the same time as everyone else! Isn't she in her dorm?" James shook his head at the blonde's question,

"No...she fell asleep in my bed anyway last night," He paused as Sirius wolf-whistled, "When I woke up she wasn't there and her dorm room was empty."

"Library?" Peter suggested, "Common Room, Prefect's bathroom?" James shook his head again at each place.

"No I checked all of them," He murmured, "Hang on." He grabbed his messenger bag from underneath the table and searched through it until he looked up. "The Map's gone."

Remus pulled it out of his robe pocket, "I found it in my pocket this morning."

"That makes no sense," Sirius muttered, opening the map, "James had it last night." He scanned over the map for a few minutes as the eight students surrounding him were caught in a tense silence.

"She's not here." James looked up at his best friend's words.

"She's not in the castle?" Sirius shook his head

"Not in the grounds either." He clarified. James froze where he was sat, head resting on his hand, eyes wide.

"Prongs." Remus smacked his mate's shoulder to get him to move but nothing happened. Marlene looked thoughtful.

"Something was wrong with her yesterday." Everyone turned to her.

"What do you mean?" Mary wrinkled her nose.

"She was distant and when she got all mushy with us? That never happens."

"She's right," James snapped out of his trance, "We have to go and see Professor Dumbledore." His tone rang with finality and no one dared argue with him.

They all got up; ignoring the funny looks they got from people-first from leaving so early into breakfast and second from James being without a pretty redhead under his arm. They walked silently up the three flights of stairs and through the stone walled corridors to their Headmaster's office.

"Lemon Drop." James muttered just as the gargoyles sprang apart and the steps twisted down to meet them. The nine friends followed the curving path of stone bricks to the heavy wooden door. Sirius raised his hand to knock but before he could put his fist to the door a voice rang out from inside.

"Come in." The door swung open to reveal Headmaster Albus Dumbledore seated behind his desk. "How can I help you?"

"Lily's missing." Sirius stated straight off the mark, not letting everyone skirt around it. Dumbledore stood up immediately.

"She's not anywhere in the castle?" He asked severely,

"No sir. We have a-uh-way of knowing exactly where a person is if they're in Hogwarts...she's not in the grounds or the castle." Remus said softly, trying not to set James off. Dumbledore quickly turned to the portraits behind him.

"Everard, summon Professor's McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn and Sprout immediately from the Great Hall." He then turned back to face the students stood before him, "Miss Prewett, Mr Longbottom, Miss McKinnon and Mr Lupin, will you four go and check the Head Girl's dormitory for anything that might give us a clue as to why she left. The rest of you stay here." He sent them off and gestured for the remaining students to sit down in the armchairs that had suddenly appeared.

"When was the last time you spoke to Miss Evans?" He asked, as the professors came in.

"Last night before we went to bed." Avis told him, "But I think James spoke to her last."

Professor Dumbledore turned to James,

"Well Mr. Potter? Did she sound like she was planning anything?"

"No sir." James' voice was a flat monotone; Lily's absence seemed to not have affected him-until you looked into his eyes. He kept moving his hands around restlessly, as if something was missing. It was, in a way. Normally when James Potter was around, a certain redhead was on his arm. A few minutes passed without a word. Dumbledore appeared to be thinking, his hands clasped under his chin. The tense silence was broken by the four professors walking quickly through the door. They stopped, forming a loose arc in front of the desk.

"Whatever is wrong, Albus? Everard said a student was missing..." Slughorn trailed off, leaving the question open. Dumbledore nodded slowly.

"Unfortunately, he is correct. A student is missing."

Professor McGonagall gasped; her voice quiet and shaky,

"Who is it?"

"Lily Evans." The few seconds that followed these words could have gone a few different ways, but as the fours teachers were about to speak, the door flew open once more. Marlene, Alice, Frank and Remus stepped into the room, making it rather crowded. Both girls' faces were streaked with tears. Alice walked over to James.

"James...she's not been taken." James looked up at her, his brown eyes filled with tears, "She left voluntarily." She held out her hand, which held an envelope. "There were two envelopes; they'd obviously fallen off the bed. One's addressed to you and the other to the rest of us." James took it from her and opened it with shaking hands. Alice turned to give him some privacy.

"This one's to all of us." She passed it to Remus, "You read it."

Remus took the letter from him and mimicked James' actions from earlier.

"_For Alice, Marlene, Avis, Mary, Remus, Sirius, Frankie and Peter._" He read, "_I love you guys more than anything. You the greatest friends a girl could have. I don't want to leave you all, knowing how much I'll miss you but I have no choice. You won't see me for a while; I don't know where I'm going or what I'll end up doing but I know that I'll always remember you and love you. I'm leaving for my own reasons, I've not been taken although I don't want to go. It would be so easy for me to just stay. To burn these letters, unpack everything and get back into bed but this time I can't do the easy thing. Maybe in a few years I'll come back and explain why I'm gone. I'm sad that I'll miss Graduation and birthdays, marriages and most of all just being with you._

_I'll never forget you guys for as long as I'll live._

_Love Lily" _Remus finished and looked up. The girls were crying and Sirius was staring into space, with a blank look on his face.

"She's really not coming back." Mary whispered and James looked at them.

"I can't believe she's gone." Sirius snapped out of his daydream at James' words, got up and crossed the room to his brother. The two men looked at each other before hugging the other tightly. James sobbed into Sirius' shoulder.

"She left me."

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**AN/ Thoughts? Please fave and review!**


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